Visual novel game adaptation by feel.
Streaming on Crunchyroll
Premise
Following the death of his grandmother, Hairi Takahara has traveled to the rural island where she lived to handle her remaining possessions. Once he begins exploring the island, he meets four girls, all seemingly with their own mysterious quirks that somehow speak to Hairi’s own unspoken, yet possibly tragic, past.
Artemis’ verdict: The 2000s Called, They Want Their Air/Clannad/Miscellaneous Dating Sim Back
You can really tell this anime was based on a visual novel. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, just depending on your tastes, but I could practically see the dialogue text popping up at the bottom of the screen every time a new girl was introduced. Even the specific way the anime is cut, from the length of each scene to the way they transition between each other, made it glaringly obvious to me without needing to look it up that this was a game first – presumably of the romance/dating sim variety.
Again, none of this makes Summer Pockets a bad anime per se, but your mileage will definitely vary based on how much tolerance you have for dating sim-style romance and mild high school harem-esque character tropes (minus the actual high school part, as this takes place on a rural Japanese island during summer vacation). I personally didn’t love the character designs, as they make everyone look like they could be 12 as opposed to (mostly, I assume) in their older teens. I also thought the main character was completely insufferable. Where the anime does really shine though is the background artwork. I can tell a lot of love went into this aspect of the show, so especially if you dig rural Japanese slice-of-life settings where the backdrop is the real eye candy of the piece, you might want to give Summer Pockets a try just for that. Otherwise, it’s probably a safe one to skip.
Jel’s verdict: Needs More Whoopsie Gravy
Having recently played Heaven Burns Red, I was reminded that Jun Maeda, a man infamous for writing tragedy, is actually pretty funny. It’s an important part of his formula: fill your story with laughter and joy, then blow it up with a nuclear bomb of sadness.
While the Summer Pockets visual novel was created by Key, the studio that Jun Maeda put on the map, his deteriorating health took him off the project and writing duties were picked up by other staff. I can’t make a judgement call based on just one episode, but I think that might be the problem. There’s no weird and wacky silliness like Clannad or Angel Beats, just a dull, lifeless introduction to our generic protagonist and his harem of bratty little girls. They all debut on screen with zero fanfare or reason for us to care.
I guess they finally get to some story toward the end as we reveal the protagonist used to be a swimmer or something, but too little too late. Even if you like these kinds of VN stories, I was not seeing anything that makes Summer Pockets unique or interesting.
